The road in Sivasagar district. Picture by Kongkon Bora

Sivasagar, July 24: A road being constructed through Assam’s Sivasagar district allegedly with help from Nagaland is likely to become the latest flashpoint in the ongoing boundary dispute between the two neighbouring states.

Sources said the Sivasagar administration was unaware of the project, which has been going on for the past two years, until recently. “The construction was going on for the past two years. Even the forest department was unaware of the road. It was brought to the notice of the government only in April this year,” a source said.

The administration demolished a portion of the 5km road, constructed on the northern side of Tiphook division of Amgoorie tea estate under Geleky reserve forest, during an eviction drive carried out last week after the visit of deputy commissioner S.S. Meenakshi Sundaram.

The construction of the road started from the garden, touching Amguri-Tuli railway track, connecting Tenth Mile on National Highway 61, which connects Assam’s Amguri to Mokokchung in Nagaland. A source in the administration said the total length of the 30ft wide road was about 5km, comprising two stretches of 2.5km each. “The road is split almost midway, as the Tiphuk river passes through it,” he added.

The sources said the road was constructed up to 5km inside Assam territory from the inter-state border. According to them, an Assam resident, Bishnu Mahanta, had allegedly assisted the Nagaland government in constructing the road.

“Mahanta applied for land patta in the area in 1995 and planted tea bushes inside the reserve forest. Earlier, he used to pay nominal land revenue to the district administration. However, the local mouzadar has stopped taking land revenue from him.”

“Mahanta stated before officials that he had constructed the road personally to transport tea leaves to the factory. But it is hard to believe that an individual could afford to construct such a big road,” he said. “The district administration has slapped a case against Mahanta. However, he obtained anticipatory bail from Gauhati High Court.”

Border magistrate of Sector F on the Assam-Nagaland border, Richand Ahmed, said the district administration, assisted by the forest and police department, conducted the eviction drive. “Sundaram visited the border areas on July 12 and ordered the drive, which was conducted for six days from July 13 and a 2km stretch of the road was demolished,” Ahmed said.” He said 70 bighas of rubber plantation and two bighas of tea cultivation, which had been encroached upon, were cleared out. “Several species of trees were planted by encroachers in the area.”

Prior to the eviction drive, the matter was raised at the border magistrate-level meeting of the two states at the office of the sub-divisional officer, Nazira. “We protested against the road construction to the deputy commissioner of Mokokchung and invited him for a deputy commissioner-level meeting. However, he turned down the request citing shortage of time, in complete violation of a resolution taken earlier,” a source said.

The deputy commissioners of the two neighbouring districts of Sivasagar and Mokokchung had earlier taken a resolution that urgent matters would be resolved with immediate effect. Officials of Nagaland, however, cited complete ignorance about the issue.

Tuli sub-divisional officer (civil) Nezilo Tep told The Telegraph over telephone that he has not come across any such developments inside Assam territory. “There is no substantiated proof regarding the involvement of the Nagaland government in construction of the road. I can only say the matter is an allegation against Nagaland and nothing beyond that,” he said.